National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program

National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program
Name	National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program
Abbrev	NTHMP
Formed	1995
Jurisdiction	United States
Headquarters	Silver Spring, Maryland
Parent agency	National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Contents

National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program is a U.S. federal-state partnership created in response to the 1964 Good Friday earthquake and the 1992 Cape Mendocino earthquakes era awareness to reduce tsunami risk along the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean coasts. It coordinates hazard assessment, warning guidance, community preparedness, and public education across agencies such as National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and state counterparts including California Office of Emergency Services, Washington Emergency Management Division, and Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. The program integrates science from institutions like the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, University of Washington, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to inform policy and operational systems such as the National Weather Service tsunami warning centers.

History

The program originated from congressional and agency responses following major seismic events including the 1964 Alaska earthquake, the 1992 Nicaragua earthquake, and the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami which catalyzed international attention involving organizations like the United Nations and the International Tsunami Information Center. Legislative and administrative milestones include coordination with the National Science Foundation, interactions with the U.S. Geological Survey, and alignment with directives from the U.S. Department of Commerce and the White House. Early collaborations linked state programs in California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii with federal capabilities from the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and the NOAA National Geophysical Data Center.

Governance is structured as a partnership among federal entities such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the U.S. Geological Survey with state-level agencies in California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii, and territories including American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Advisory and scientific input comes from academic centers like University of Hawaii at Manoa, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Oregon State University, and research labs including the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory. International coordination has involved entities such as the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, the Pacific Islands Forum, and regional agencies in Japan, Chile, New Zealand, and Indonesia.

Core activities include tsunami inundation mapping, evacuation route planning, and community education campaigns undertaken with state partners and local jurisdictions like Los Angeles County, King County, Washington, and Honolulu County. Scientific components leverage tsunami modeling from centers such as Scripps Institution of Oceanography, observational assets like the DART network and tide gauge systems maintained by the National Ocean Service, and seismic monitoring from the Global Seismographic Network. Public alerting uses infrastructure managed by the National Weather Service, Emergency Alert System, and the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, and business continuity planning interfaces with agencies like Department of Homeland Security. Training and exercises are coordinated with first responders from organizations including the American Red Cross and municipal emergency management offices in cities such as Seattle, San Francisco, Anchorage, and Honolulu.

Funding streams combine federal appropriations through National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration budgets, grants administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and state allocations from legislatures in California State Legislature, Oregon Legislative Assembly, and the Alaska Legislature. Partnerships extend to academic grant recipients at institutions like University of California, Santa Cruz, University of Oregon, University of Hawai‘i at Hilo, and non-governmental organizations including the American Red Cross and local community groups. International grant and technical cooperation involve entities such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and bilateral collaborations with Japan Meteorological Agency and Geological Survey of Canada.

The program has produced thousands of inundation maps, evacuation plans, and public outreach products that have influenced municipal codes, land-use planning, and emergency response in jurisdictions from San Diego to Providence, Rhode Island and from Barrow, Alaska to Pago Pago, American Samoa. Case studies and after-action reports following events like the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the 2010 Chile earthquake, and local warnings issued for the 2018 Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami demonstrate the value of pre-established evacuation routes and public education, while also informing improvements adopted by agencies including NOAA, FEMA, and state emergency management divisions. Metrics of success are reflected in reduced casualty projections in modeled scenarios used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and adoption of warning standards in the National Weather Service.

Ongoing challenges include addressing inundation model uncertainty, expanding observational coverage offshore with arrays like DART, integrating indigenous and local knowledge from communities such as Native Hawaiian and Alaskan Natives, and funding volatility linked to federal budget cycles debated in the United States Congress. Future directions emphasize resilience planning aligned with climate-change projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, cross-border cooperation with partners in Japan, Chile, New Zealand, and Philippines, and technological advances from research at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Efforts also aim to harmonize evacuation guidance with urban planning in coastal metropolises like Los Angeles, New York City, Seattle, and Honolulu and to incorporate lessons from international frameworks such as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Category:Tsunami Category:Disaster preparedness